Board of Directors & Advisory

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Jennifer Chen, ChairJennifer Chen is the Director of Programming and Acquisitions at Channel Zero managing four channels in Canada: Movieola- The Short Film Channel, Silver Screen Classics, CHCH of Southwestern Ontario and CJNT, the ethnic channel in Montreal. She was formerly the General Manager of Ouat Media, managing one of the largest distribution companies specializing in the acquisition, distribution and sales of short form content internationally. Her previous festival and sales experience include the Canadian Film Centre, the Toronto International Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival. Jennifer studied cinema at the Sorbonne in Paris for a year before returning to Canada, where she worked in feature film production and directed and produced her own short films. Jennifer has shared her knowledge of the film industry with audiences at film festivals around the world, consulted on distribution strategies for award-winning shorts, published papers on the subject and represented shorts in many international film festivals.

Joanna Miles, Vice-ChairJoanna is currently Vice-President of Marketing for eOne Films, Canada’s leading motion picture distributor. Working on such titles as The Hunger Games, Divergent, Mommy and John Wick, she has effectively marketed these titles to Canadian audiences. Gained extensive marketing & distribution experience from her tenures at Maple Pictures and Capri Films, Joanna received her start in the film industry at Alliance Films, where she was project manager on the two Toronto exhibits for The Lord Of The Rings film trilogy. Joanna holds an honours bachelor of arts degree with a specialization in arts administration from the University of Toronto and is delighted to be a member of the Reel Asian board.

Geoffrey Peers, TreasurerGeoff is a Chartered Professional Accountant who has spent most of his career working in the Financial Services Industry. He is currently a Vice President in the Internal Audit Department of Scotiabank, responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of internal controls over risk management in the Bank’s global non-retail loan portfolios. Before working at the Bank, Geoff worked with public accounting firms in New York and Toronto, focusing on clients in the banking, brokerage and mutual fund industries.

While his role on the Board as Treasurer has a financial focus, Geoff’s interests go beyond simply budgets and financial statements. He has long been a fan of films from around the world, with a particularly interest in Asian cinema. As such, Geoff is thrilled to be able to work alongside the passionate professionals who create this wonderful festival and other inspiring events and activities in support of Asian media arts in Canada.

Elliot RichmondElliot is a CPA, CA and Partner in the Audit and Assurance group at fuller Landau LLP. He has a strong track record of working with entrepreneurial clients in a variety of industries. Elliot’s experience also includes working with authors, actors and other professionals in the Entertainment industry to provide accounting and advisory services, such as contract review, for individual actors and writers. In addition, Elliot also c0-chairs Fuller Landau’s Entertainment & Communications group. With over 25 years of experience as a trusted business advisor, Elliot has a strong understanding of the unique issues and challenges faced by companies within the entertainment industry.

When he’s not in the office, Elliot can be found at the cottage with his wife and three boys.

Evelyn Siu, SecretaryEvelyn Siu is the Research Project Coordinator at the Global Diversity Exchange, a think and do tank on diversity, migration and inclusion at Ryerson University. While at the Maytree Foundation, she produced international events in the US and Europe, including the inaugural Cities of Migration International Conference in The Hague and in Berlin. Evelyn was the Artistic Associate for Harbourfront Centre’s celebrated summer festival season, and led several community partnerships with arts organizations, consulates, and culturally diverse artists in Toronto. Her experience in youth engagement included managing the youth literary mentorship program at Diaspora Dialogues and co-writing Harbourfront Centre’s youth strategy. She was an advisory member to the Cultural Pluralism in the Arts program at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus. She holds an honours BA degree with a specialist designation in Arts Management and a major in Art History from the University of Toronto. She joined Reel Asian as the co-chair of the festival’s Marketing Committee in 2010

Bobby Sahni has over 12 years of corporate multicultural marketing experience and is considered a veteran and leader in the industry. Bobby was the Head of Multicultural Marketing at Rogers Communications for many years and has been a pioneer in developing, executing and managing diversity and multicultural marketing initiatives for a number of organizations best-in-class organizations. He recently co-founded Ethnicity, a multicultural marketing & advertising agency dedicated to helping companies drive new growth and sales by engaging North America’s fast-growing, big-spending ethnic communities. Bobby earned his joint MBA from the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University) and the Schulich School of Business (York University). Bobby is also an experienced Actor, MC, TV Host and “go-to-guy” for various ethnic talent, musicians and producers. Bobby sits on the Board of Directors for the Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce and is an honorary chair for Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer in support of the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.

Immanuel LanzaderasImmanuel is a bilingual criminal lawyer for Legal Aid Ontario. He currently works at various courthouses and locations around the city, providing support to the duty counsel program. Before moving to the public sector, Immanuel worked at a union-side labour and employment firm in downtown Toronto. He is a founding member of the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers, and served on their board of directors for five years. He joined the Board of Reel Asian in order to continue to support the arts and diversity. In his spare time, Immanuel plays as much tennis as he can. He is a fan of Fifth Generation Chinese Cinema.

Dave WongDave is a Regional Vice President, GTA Central & East at National Bank and has over 20 years experience in the financial services industry. National Bank has been a proud sponsor of the Reel Asian Film Festival for four consecutive years. Dave has had an active role in this partnership and is committed to supporting the growth of a strong and vibrant Asian community here in the GTA. Dave joined as a Member of the Reel Asian Film Festival Board in January 2014, and is honoured to represent the continuation of National Bank’s long-standing commitment to developing the cultural and economic development of their surrounding communities. Dave is on the Advisory Council for the School of Accounting & Finance at Ryerson University and holds a MBA from Dalhousie University.